Brands will spend $37bn advertising in the ‘creator economy’ in the US alone this year, according to a new study published by industry body the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB).
That’s up 26% from the $29.5bn they spent with creators in 2024, with the IAB pointing out that this is around four times the growth being seen in the wider advertising market.
Some of the trends will be familiar from how music-marketing campaigns involving creators have evolved. 48% of brands now see creators as a “must buy”, but they want better attribution, reporting and vetting tools, as well as ways to find the right creators to work with.
“An environment where strategic matchmaking is often more art than science, and where brands are calling for better discovery tools to guide their investment decisions,” was how the IAB’s Zoe Soon described that last challenge.
There’s another music angle on these figures. As more brands pile more of their spend into creators, that may pose a problem for music marketers on tighter budgets.
“Trying to negotiate on lower budgets is just not that appealing to them,” was how That’s My Jamm’s Chloé Ameh described this in our Music Ally Marketing Week ‘Small Budget Campaign Blueprints’ session earlier this week.
“Trying to get that over the line is always more difficult when the budgets are just not there. Especially if there’s conversations in other areas for them, for these influencers, where the budgets are more healthy.”
The IAB report is one of two new studies of the US social media sphere today. The other comes from the Pew Research Center, and focuses on how Americans are using social media.
Key findings from that: YouTube and Facebook are still the top platforms, used by 84% and 71% of American adults respectively. 50% use Instagram, 37% use TikTok and 32% use WhatsApp, with Reddit (26%), Snapchat (25%) and X (21%) among the other prominent services.
The study explores the differences between different age groups too. 80% of 18-29 year-olds in the US use Instagram and 63% of them use TikTok, for example.
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‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source musically.com ’
